I think it’s time to quit waving the crayon around, Bobo detractors. This may be the single most astounding team statistic of the 2012-3 season. (Technically, Alabama and Texas A&M still have a chance to catch Georgia, but based on their season averages, ‘Bama would need to amass nearly 640 yards in the national title game and TAMU would have to get nearly 750 yards against Oklahoma to do so. Either is unlikely, to say the least.)

All of you who predicted before the season’s start that Georgia would lead the nation in average yards per play, take a bow. As a group, you very likely fit in a phone booth. To think that was done with a green offensive line, last year’s SEC Freshman of the Year booted off the team and two of Georgia’s top receivers gone for half the season is pretty remarkable.

84 responses to “The end of a meme”

I have been one of Bobo’s staunchest supporters for years, which is to say I thought he was OK. YPP is one of the best statistics in terms of how well it predicts success, and he led the nation. Unbelievable.

Play calling on Tuesday was excellent, I thought. For three quarters, the offense alone kept us in the game. Then it put away the Huskers for good in the fourth. Personally, I’m excited about next year. Still-young but more seasoned OL, great soph RBs, depth at wideout. An offense-dominated UGA, but we’ll be fine.

As I’ve said previously, CMB turned a big corner this year and has come into his own. Playcalling has been effective. We’ll need the O to produce big again next season. Okay, got to admit I have one peev – he still doesn’t call enough plays for the TE’s.

The last two years I’ve been impressed with what Bobo and Richt have done with the offense. Last season’s no huddle, where we ran more plays than Oregon, and this year’s using the pistol and different run formations. It shows that both coaches don’t rest on their laurels.

He has been there for more than the last two years, but D play has taken the shine off his accomplishments to those who don’t read or study.

Said it before and will say it again: Coach Bobo has built a perpetual points-producing machine that will take on any team. It is huge as one can see by taking the integral parts of the O and comparing to other teams. Now put all the parts together as a team. We are not in this position by accident. It is due to the hard work of a great O coach who has learned well from two Masters, moreso from Richt. You can put all the blinders in the world over your eyes , but your sensibilities will get the better of you if you just look at the history of our UGA O and how it has been built to this point.

The O part of UGA’s Team shines brightly in it’s depth for the next several years. If you doubt that, you won’t get near the pleasure I’ve had for the last several years. Now, like a guy confident in what he has built, he has time to tinker with it (to the future chagrin of our opponents).

I was curious on how we ranked on Defensive YPP and we were a *repectable* 34th. What surprised me what that Florida State was 1st in defensive YPP and 3rd (0.01 away from second) in offensive YPP. I can’t figure out if that is a statement of ACC futility or…well – yeah there is no other possiblity. It’s Chan-tastic!!!

This has a lot to do with our D underperforming, at least according to what their talent would suggest. Explosive plays by your offense don’t keep your defense off the field for very long. No amount of strength and conditioning in the world can make up for staying on the field all day (in relative terms).

No doubt the offensive did very well. Congrats to the staff and players. I just do not think about that trip to Columbia. Hopefully, the staff and players will remember it next season in Sanford Stadium.
But it is a little difficult to understand why the media does not give Murray, Bobo, and company some highly derserved accolades. They deserve them!

What’s crazy to me is how our top wide receivers kept going down and others stepped right up and made plays. We honestly didn’t miss a beat. Wasn’t McGowan a former walk-on? In addition to Bobo, Tony Ball deserves a ton of credit IMO. We seem to be operating like a well-oiled machine and the future on that side of the ball looks bright.

Not to get all Westerdawg on the thread here, but what’s interesting to me is that we’ve amassed these YPP stats without a consistent grinding run game. We’re killing YPP, but I’d bet we’re near the bottom of “slow grind” rankings. Doesn’t matter as long as we get big plays, but can be a weakness if we have an off-night.

What interests me is whether we’re intentionally going for big plays or doing so out of necessity. Said another way: if we can run for 5-6 yards on standard downs instead of 2-3, do we still toss it down the field as much? Or have we decided to put quick points on the board when we see the chance, then force the other team to catch up?

There are more people telling us to stop blaming Bobo than there actually are people who blame Bobo at this point. This horse is dead and has been since around late November when you first posted that we should lay this meme to rest. If we’re going to end the meme the first step is to probably stop mentioning it.

With all due respect, Senator, we don’t read those boards (or at least, I don’t). Because the people that post on them are knee-jerk, pseudo-fans looking for entertainment and a voice. And they are irrelevant.

Mike Bobo is an important litmus test for me. We all have litmus tests that help us decide what we think about other human beings. Inasmuch as I consider myself an agreeable person, I utilize my litmus tests like a line-item veto. In other words, I don’t usually completely eliminate people for consideration from potential friendship by failing one litmus test. But I do disqualify people as being worth interacting with based on their performance on a litmus test related to the subject matter of a suggested interaction. For example, I wouldn’t watch a movie – or discuss movies generally – with someone who expressed a negative opinion about Wes Anderson movies. Okay, with the exception of The Life Aquatic.

In music, I have The Pixies, Beethoven, The Beetles, [and several others] on the positive side, and [nearly everyone else, especially Beiber] on the negative side. If your discussion of food requires an understanding of the terminology of chemistry, or any other thing I associate with precision, you are not my kind of foodie. And don’t get me started on their/there, your/you’re or “irregardless” (it’s not a word, stop it, people).

I recognize these things are a matter of taste, and that I fail plenty of other people’s litmus tests. For example, after 10 minutes or so any true sommelier will eliminate me from future discussions about, or interactions related to, wine. Math? Please. I’ve been billing 26 hours into a day for over a decade now. It’s not my strong suit (this is a joke; I’m not an asshole, I promise).

Where am I going with this? One of the domains that I have decided is important enough to me to learn about and invest myself in – and apply litmus tests to – is Georgia football. And that’s what litmus tests really are: a recognition that there are certain sacred realms for each of us. Things that we put barriers around because we don’t want them muddied with the irrational and uninformed claptrap of the unenlightened.

So here we go: If you [generic you] complain about Mike Bobo as the offensive coordinator at Georgia, I just don’t think I can watch a Georgia game with you, or talk about a Georgia game with you, or basically ever speak to you about any meaningful subject or hang out for any reason whatsoever ever again.

Wow. That lacked something. It felt like I was really going somewhere, like a real crescendo. Whatever, I have too much time on my hands.

You left out The Shins, The Sundays, The Beatles, The Marshall Tucker Band, The Allman Brothers, Sam Cooke, Bill Withers, and The Smithereens.
Your taste in music appears somewhat limited, perhaps even narrow minded. One should occasionally explore things outside of ones comfort zone, regardless if there could be some risk involved.
For instance, punting on a fourth and one close to midfield.
Still would have gone for it.

I think the most astounding stat in that chart is FSU and Bama being in the Top 5. Oklahoma State, Baylor and Oregon are names I expect to see in the Top 10 but I must have missed a lot of the explosions of FSU and Alabama. All that was missing was to find Florida on that list of offensive powerhouses (I say that and yet gave Louisville 14 points tonight on my bet. Feel the defense and STs will make the Gators successful enough to cover.)

Okay, is it wrong to enjoy Louisville scoring on a pick 6 for the first play of the game? Or to laugh when their fullback blasts the FU cornerback five yards deep into the endzone? I mean, he literally bounced backwards five yards. :)

Anyway, stop interfering with the shallow and meaningless ways I make myself feel superior. What else do I have, man…what else do I have?

And I thought the Pixies were the band designated as the tongue-in-cheek way of mocking REAL music snobs. What am I missing?

Oh…I see what’s going on here. I’m old. I just failed the ultimate litmus test: out-of-date pop culture reference. Oh well at least we’re going to beat Notre Dame for the BCS national championship in a few days. No one can take THAT away.

That made more sense when it followed the text I THOUGHT I was replying to. Thank you all for indulging my post-holiday/post- SECCG nervous break-down/mid-life crisis, which was compounded by the realization that I have possibly been misspelling “The Beatles” for the past 36 years. Yes, I realize the SECCG was almost a full month ago. I process things slowly. A thing I now have in common with my liver. I’m going to bed now, with the conviction that Florida is NOT going to pull out a win the propels it to a pre-season top-five ranking.

I know, my bad, man. Confluence of events related to low blood-sugar, too much caffeine and too little sleep. Killer case of BCS envy in there somewhere, too. And what’s the smart-sounding word for Mommy issues? Don’t be alarmed, if you’ll look past all the gibberish all you’ll find is a harmless cry for help.

True statement today. Same as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. My affection and rooting interest in the conference as a whole is amorphous and complex and can be summed up with the simple statement that I generally root for the conference in non-conference games with no Georgia implications. My hatred for Florida is simple, specific and white hot and can be summed up with the the statement fuck Florida and the horse it rode in on. Fuck Florida. The “career assistant” – heard it more than once from a Florida man – is schooling your ass. I worked some shit out tonight, gentlemen.*

Senator you can color the crayon all u want to and sugar the koolaid while you’re at it. The fact is we failed to win the SEC CG. And keep making excuses like you always like to do. And it looks like that sloopy Florida win we had isnt so great either. And u know damn well we should have spiked the ball in the SEC CG.

No we don’t suck. But damn we sure weren’t great. if we were we would have beat South Carolina and not have almost lost to Tennessee and Kentucky and damn sure should have spiked that ball in the SEC CG

Hell we almost got beat by Tennessee and Kentucky. And to hell with the grammar and spelling I’ve had a few beers. I’m just upset about a lot if things. My washing maching died and I need two tires for my truck. And we should have never spiked the ball.

I’m so glad I’m not a fan that expects just a Capital Bowl when we had all the talent to go undefeated and play in the BCS title game in Miami. Or at least play in a BSC Bowl game. It’s a coaching problem like it’s been for a long time

Nope, I’m just a guy who has been watching college football for a long time and recognizes that coaches who graduate players, represent the institution with class and dignity in every way, win north of 10 games a year over an 11-year span, and who manage to tame the twin coach-killers known as perception and downward momentum are one in a million. I have watched the sport long enough to know how long it took legendary coaches like Tom Osborne, Vince Dooley, Bobby Bowden, and Steve Spurrier (who only got the one, remember) to win a MNC and how many other great ones never did. I don’t mean to sound condescending, but I’m glad my view is the majority opinion. I also feel compelled to note that Richt’s tenure is that much more impressive considering that his contemporaries in the SEC might be the greatest collection of college football coaching talent ever in one generation. He’ll get his, my bet is more than one.

Quote Of The Day

“It's definitely different not knowing exactly who it's gonna be, but in a way, I feel like that's good,” he said. “One of my old coaches from Valdosta told me that competition is one of the best coaches. And I feel like, as well as each one of those three guys is performing, they're not gonna do anything but make each other better.” -- Jay Rome, The Red & Black, 3/25/15